Govt Suspends Ebola Vaccine Trial

The government of Ghana has ordered the suspension of the planned Ebola vaccine trial in Ghana.

The directive comes days after the Food and Drugs Authority justified the need for the trial to be undertaken in Ghana.

The FDA at a press conference Monday said the vaccine is safe and will have no negative consequences on its subjects.

“Science and medical ethics (of the FDA) says the Ebola vaccine trial will not harm Ghanaians, All the ethical issues have been addressed,” the ethics committee of the FDA said in a statement.

But in a volt-face, the health ministry has ordered the FDA to suspend the exercise.

Spokesperson for the ministry Tony Goodman confirmed the decision.

It is unclear what might have triggered the decision.

An investigation uncovered the clandestine attempts by health authorities in the country to experiment the vaccines at Hohoe in the Volta region of Ghana.

Sources revealed that the Hohoe midwifery training school had been selected for the project. As part of an enticement package, students who will allow themselves to be used as ‘guinea pigs’ for the exercise , according to the highly placed source, will be given GHc 200 and a cell phone as reward.

Further probe revealed that pharmaceutical companies including, Johnson and Johnson and JSK were involved in the exercise.